and so we part
by mildlyholmes
Summary: So they part ways, never to meet again. And it's a shame, Alfred thinks, because that's just the way things are. /Post-Dark Knight.


**A/N: Hi! It's been a while since I've posted anything, but I am writing something right now (Delena) but I don't think I'll post it up because it sounds a bit unrealistic.. let me know if you're interested in reading it. More so, I have quite a long plot in my head and I'm known for never finishing my stories unless they're one-shots, so… if I do put it up, I might get some hate for not updating often. **

**Anyway, I just watched Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, and was inspired by the last scene to write this. Enjoy, and review!**

He is a broken man.

Standing by their graves, the three Wayne family members, reunited at last, Alfred feels like he has failed them. They're not reunited. 'Reunited' seems too happy, too forgiving in this unforgiving world. It feels like they're accusing him of betrayal; betrayal for sending another one of the Waynes to the Underworld, the afterlife - they were supposed to live on in greatness. _Bruce Wayne _was supposed to live on in greatness.

He weeps in front of their graves as Commissioner Gordon steers young Blake away and to the house. Alfred can't bear to look at the house, at what young, but Master nonetheless, Bruce Wayne inherited, where his first cries echoed, where Alfred began to serve the young Wayne. Yes, Alfred was being selfish for wanting Bruce to live on. He knew that Bruce would always choose to save Gotham over himself. He would always choose to save innocence rather than the corrupted. Rachel's death had proved that. But it has been too long a journey for him to not want a better life for his Master.

And he knew that, all in all, Bruce would have wanted things to turn out the way it did. Bruce would face the doors of death with open arms, like a true hero. Batman would always be his ending.

Alfred curses his nobility. But he accepts it, and goes on to preserve his legacy.

He watches as the Wayne mansion is used to accommodate the young orphans, watches them fill into rooms filled with painful memories. He makes sure that Fox does everything he can to make Wayne Enterprises bloom again and Gotham return to the way it once was.

You might ask, doesn't Alfred have his own family to care for? But he remembers the day he swore to devote his life to the Wayne family, and he is a man of his word.

The Waynes' were - are - his family.

It's a year later that he visits Florence. He's still holding on to a tiny piece of hope as he sits by the river, ordering a drink. He still has hope that he would see those brown eyes he had first seen as an infant.

He thinks about what he told Bruce.

_I never wanted you to come back._

Bruce would have taken his words to account, he thinks. If he had survived - and hell, it would be so incredibly _Bruce _for him to survive - he would want to start afresh. He would have done it to honor the butler who has cared for him all his life.

He looks up, still hoping, and his wishes has come true. There sits Bruce, young Master Wayne, glancing at Alfred as he glances back.

He can't help but let out a small chuckle out of mere happiness that he's alive. He watches as Bruce diverts his eyes away and talks to a young woman sitting opposite him, and feels truly happy for once. Because his young Master Wayne has finally found a girl, left Gotham, and moved on.

Just like Alfred always wanted.

If things were different, he would have approached them. Exchanged handshakes with Bruce, and kissed the lady's palm, saying _it's a pleasure to meet the woman of Master Wayne's thoughts, if I don't say so myself. _And Bruce would smile at him, because Alfred has always known when his young master was - ah, well, had someone to occupy his thoughts. Alfred would have sat down and chatted with Bruce until the sun went down, and then resume his position as Bruce's trusted butler.

But he's not that man. So he merely smiles at Bruce and watches his former master smile back at him. He doesn't acknowledge when Bruce signs the bill and leaves the restaurant with his lady on tow. They glance at each other for the briefest moment, and a flash of something passes between them.

Bruce says _thank you, for everything you've ever done for me. I will never forget you. I hope you enjoy life and move on like I did._

And Alfred, he just says that he's happy for young Master Wayne, that he won't look for him and _don't you dare come back to Gotham. _And there's a sincere _all the best, Master Wayne._

So they part ways, never to meet again. And it's a shame, Alfred thinks, because that's just the way things are


End file.
